Mar 30 : "If Diseases Were People" - "Spring Cleaning" - Foil Arms and Hog

Streaming across my Facebook page one day a few years ago was a skit done by the Irish comedy group, Foil Arms and Hog. I was immediately hooked and have been watching a lot of their bits since. While I enjoyed watching them over the internets, I still wished I could see them do a live show.

That wish came true when the group came to do a one-night show in Philly while on their USA-Canada tour. They did several new skits that I had never seen, and they incorporated a few audience members in some of the acts as well. Three guys form the group and they play different roles in each skit, sometimes even a variety of roles in the same skit. I marvel at the fact from minute to minute, their changes in posture and facial expressions (along with sometimes changes in wardrobe) help them become completely new characters.

Here is one of their sketches from 2019. While the sketch is three years old, it's subject of diseases is something we've all been thinking about over the last twenty-four months. This is "If Diseases Were People"

Foil Arms and Hog comes out with a new video each week. This is the most recent, from last week, March 24. This is "Spring Cleaning". Note how the actors play several different roles in the same bit.

They played at The Kimmel Center in the Perelman Theater. Whether it's a concert or other performance, I always like to be as up close as possible. So Steve and I got what The Kimmel Center calls "box" seats, which are actually where the balcony narrows down to one row up in front by the stage. We not only had a good view of the stage but also a good view of when they went out to engage with audience members.

While their USA tour has come to an end, you can still keep up with Foil Arms and Hog on Facebook. Here is the click to their Facebook page: Foil Arms and Hog on Facebook (CLICK HERE).

Mar 22 : "I Forgot to Live And Love Today" - Tom Shaner (New York)

PANDEMIC FRUSTRATIONS

Probably everyone can relate to this. In the middle of the pandemic, you want to get out, see other people, have life back to normal, but you just can't. If not a connection to people then a connection to just some activity, just something. It's a feeling of frustration that you haven't really lived life the way it should be lived.

That's the theme of New York musician Tom Shaner's new video, "I Forgot to Live And Love Today". The song was actually written during the height of the pandemic, but the video was released just last Monday, March 14.

I asked Tom to give us some background about the song. Hi Bob- thanks for reaching out. I had a general inspiration for simple melodic idea while in Ireland Summer of 2019 I sort of forgot about it, as I’m often bouncing around many different ideas in my head. Then a few months into the pandemic I was playing guitar one day and the melody reappeared and (it had no words before) those words start sort of tumbling out. “I Forgot to Live and Live Today.” And I thought it was a bit corny. But it seemed like that’s what it wanted to be, those words. So I figured out where to go from there. I guess it dawned on me during pandemic that you’ve got to feel some sense of love everyday to have a chance of any organic connection to happiness. It doesn’t have to be a person. It could be you love novels or baking, or whatever.

And the chorus about the “blue margarita girls” refers to a memory I had of when I used to be a bartender years ago, we offered blueberry margaritas. And these two gals would come in often and that’s what they liked. And I was feeling down about a break up, and they would try and get me to go drinking with them.

In the years before the pandemic, I did get to see Tom do a show with his full band at Spike Hill. But here he's singing solo "I Forgot to Live And Love Today" :::

TOMORROW NITE!

Tom has been doing a residency in March at LIC Bar, and is excited about his show there tomorrow night! It’s just two more Wednesdays. It’s been fun. I’ve tried several new songs out snd have written new ones this month to try as well. I’ve mixed it up playing with different musicians such as my pal Felix Slim. Tomorrow night an old collaborator and friend Bob Sharkey will sit in. It’s been a fun ride to try and new stuff and play some older stuff in new ways. Then in on Sunday April 10th there’s a show at Mercury Lounge. Here is the click to LIC Bar (CLICK HERE) and this is Tom's click Tom Shaner on Facebook (CLICK HERE).

Mar 17 : "Burst Lethargic" - The Silence Kit (Philly / NJ)

Philly Music 1/2

GRIT REMASTERED

Life in the 21st century can have its pitfalls. Is this relationship going to work? Does my life have any meaning? Will anyone miss me if I were to just disappear? These and other questions form the dark panorama of The Silence Kit's world.

The Silence Kit is a post-punk band that draws its talent from both Philly and South Jersey. This fall the band released a remastered version of their 2006 album, "In Regulated Measure." This was to celebrate the album's fifteenth anniversary. I first saw a live show of The Silence Kit back around 2006, probably at Khyber, and I'm pretty sure "In Regulated Measure" was the first of their albums I ever got. So for the past couple weeks I've been listening to both versions and doing some comparisons.

I asked Pat McCay, mastermind of the band, to tell us about the origins of the album. He says: I recorded "In Regulated Measure" on my own throughout the early aughts. "Shake and Tremble" was recorded in the living room of my one bedroom apartment in the winter of 2001, and was set aside as a demo. The rest of the songs were written and sketches were recorded through 2002 and 2003. I found friends to play with and The Silence Kit became a band in 2003, but for the next year or so a couple different lineups formed, played shows, demo'd songs, and fell apart. In 2004 or so I moved into a house and set up a make-shift "studio" in the unfinished (and uninsulated) attic and in the winter of 2005, I started in earnest writing and recording all the songs for "In Regulated Measure." It was freezing in the attic, with a space heater and a small amp, and my slightly improved recording rig. Sometimes with the amp, computer and space heater going all at the same time, I'd trip a breaker and everything would go black. I'd have to walk down a couple flights of stairs to the basement to reset the breaker and walk back up to the attic, and turn something off so it wouldn't happen again.

To describe the writing process, Pat says: For the majority of the songs, and certainly for songs like "My Name Is Another Room," "Burst Lethargic" and "Trying Not To," I programmed the drums first, and then recorded bass - the songs were very rhythm-centric. After that, I'd go about layering guitar parts and synth parts - much more than what was ultimately used. I'd go through and mute certain tracks until I found the right balance of keeping things stark, but with atmosphere. I had the majority of the lyrics already written, and I recorded vocals last.

Of the eight tracks on the new album, one track that stands out to me is "Burst Lethargic". I like the rhythm; I like the drums. In this song the new version is slightly less stark; there's a little more fuzz in the instrumentals. The main character in the song is awakening to "static", and is experiencing loss, which leads him to feel invalidated. Here are the lyrics to the song as well as the remastered audio of "Burst Lethargic".

Lost my shape this morning / woke up to the static / immersed, my heart sank slow / when it was just a dream / relief swallowed me / I had trouble letting go / cut and watch and back away / another layer is peeled away / the more you see the more you need / melt into the sheets / every fading smile / every whispered word / absorbed into the guilt / everything i was / you know, i used to be someone

The Silence Kit · Burst Lethargic (2021 Remastered)

And, for an overall, broad brushstroke view of what he wanted to accomplish with the remastering, Pat says: I've been recording music for the 15 years since "In Regulated Measure" and I've learned a good bit since those first days of recording, so it was a really interesting exercise to now go back through the old recordings and remix them. ... I did want to retain the lo-fi charm of the original. But I do feel the changes made in the remix resulted in a clearer, more dynamic and bracing mix, and yet it's still pretty gritty and hypnotic, which are some of the things I liked about the original.

What's a remastering? Maybe it's not just a technical exercise but also takes a fresh look at stories previously told, maybe to see them a little differently. A perspective can change over fifteen years. For example, in one of the band's more popular songs, "Sea Of My Discretion", the vocals and instrumentals in the new version seem a little more unified, not as separate as they were in the original. There's a little more cohesiveness. And, while there's more clarity in the new versions, there is also more texture and nuance. The stories and characters are still dark, troubled, and desperate, and the relationships still heavy (to the extent that they still can exist), but maybe we're not seeing them as harshly as we did fifteen years ago.

That being said, the last track on the original (and next to the last track on the remastered version) is "Trying Not To", presents one of the most dire situations any character in the album faces. He's talking to someone close; he says he feels like he's been getting "murdered every night", and "I've been beaten down". He talks gratefully about their relationship saying, remarkably, "You introduced me to myself". Find out how this encounter turns out. Here is the 2021 remastered version of "Trying Not To" :

The Silence Kit · Trying Not To (2021 Remastered)

The Silence Kit's characters talk about many emotional issues where others won't go. You should definitely check out this album. If you would like to hear more songs from either the remastered or other albums, here is the click to the band's Bandcamp page: The Silence Kit on Bandcamp (CLICK HERE) .The Silence Kit doesn't have any live shows lined up in the immediate future, but here is the click to their Facebook page where you can keep up with what they're doing: The Silence Kit on Facebook (CLICK HERE). (Pic below is from the band's web page.)

Mar 14 : "My Sanctuary" - Georgey V (Philly)

Philly Music!

A SONG FOR THE TIMES

Last Monday Philly musician Georgey V came out with a new video, "My Sanctuary". The music itself was released last April on his "Car Parked Radio Vol. 3" album, but the video portion is new as of last week and is a collaboration with Theeb.

The video shows a room, a nice place to chill, and the vocals talk about "It's where I stay ... seven days a week". I was curious to find out more, so I asked Georgey about the background of the song. He said it's a covid song, and he wrote it about his experience during lockdown, when his room became his "sanctuary".

Watch the whole video:

Georgey V has one show coming up, two weeks from now, at Original 13 Ciderworks. And here is the click to Georgey V's Facebook page: Georgey V on Facebook (CLICK HERE).

Mar 02 : "Keep You Close" - Karen Cleveland

Imagine yourself working for the FBI. You work at headquarters in DC; you've risen in rank to be chief of the Investigative Services Section, an FBI version of an internal affairs department. You keep tabs on the bad guys and bring them to justice. Many of your colleagues back at the academy have advanced, but none, so far, as you. You're well-respected by your colleagues, and, while doing all this, you're bringing up a teenage son on your own. You've definitely "built a beat", as the musician in my previous post would have said.

But one day you come across a loaded gun in your son's room. You don't know what to make of it. Soon there's a knock on the door with a visit from law enforcement looking into your son's activities..

Such is the issue faced by FBI agent Stephanie Maddox in Karen Cleveland's mystery novel, "Keep You Close". What starts out as a worry about her son, Zachary, mushrooms into a tangled web of polticial intrigue. (With some motifs you'll find jarringly timely vis-a-vis some perspectives in our recent political diaglogue.)

The book is written in first person; Steph is telling you the story. You're in her head as she goes jogging in the middle of the night, and as she has to confront one of her former academy classmates who has turned criminal. You're in her head as she tries to figure out what to do about Zachary's situation, and while she fends off meddlesome interference from her mother. She's running a home and running a career, too busy to see a real therapist, so she goes to the therapist in her head. What would that therapist say if she were real?

Lots of suspense and twists in this book.

I came across this book as I was browsing the new fiction section at Independence Library. The author's bio helped me make the decision to read the book. Karen Cleveland is a former CIA analyst and the New York Times bestselling author of three novels. She began her CIA career working on Russia, and later moved into CIA’s Counterterrorism Center, where she focused primarily on Pakistan and Syria. While at CIA she wrote briefs for the US President and other senior policymakers, worked closely with an FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, and earned more than a dozen Exceptional Performance Awards." Stories written by professionals often turn out to be the best.

Here is the click to Karen Cleveland's website where you can learn more about her and her work ::: Karen Cleveland website. You can purchase a copy of the book through independent booksellers Biblio, or you can borrow a book through Free Library.

Pic below is from author's website.